Google Glass—for people who actually need glasses—may also debut this year.

Many people have been asking Google's Project Glass team if Google Glass will be suitable for those who actually need glasses to see better. Today, Google showed off a prototype of a prescription version of the glasses, which the company said will be available to the public "later this year."

SlashGear pointed out that Google had already confirmed last year that Google Glass could technically be accommodated to fit prescription frames and lenses. There have also been rumors that Google would partner with eyeglass makers to adapt the Android-based contraption to a real pair of glasses, but no specific plans had been released.

The Project Glass team confirmed its plans for prescription glasses on Google+ today. Google also showed off a picture of Greg Priest-Dorman, "a member of the Glass team and an early pioneer in wearable computing," wearing a prototype pair.

"The Glass design is modular, so you will be able to add frames and lenses that match your prescription," Google said. "We’re still perfecting the design for prescription frames. Although the frames won’t be ready for the Explorer Edition’s release, hang in there—you can expect to see them later this year."

The Explorer Edition is a pre-release version that's being distributed in limited quantities. Google has said its augmented reality glasses will go on sale to the public by the end of this year for less than $1,500. Given the timing mentioned in the Google+ post, a prescription version could be ready for the commercial launch or shortly after.

85 Reader Comments

The Explorer Edition is a pre-release version that's being distributed in limited quantities. Google has said its augmented reality glasses will go on sale to the public by the end of this year for less than $1,500.

I'm sure this was in the works all along; they probably assumed they didn't need to advertise how "cool" you'd look in Glass to existing glasses wearers. While I think Glass is an interesting technology, I also think they're going about things wrong with their "phones are emasculating" type of crap. Of course, we're all talking about it so I suppose the ads and buzz generation are successful.

Ah, nice to have confirmation of this. I'm a sailplane pilot, and I need prescription lenses, but I've been simply mind-boggled by the possibilities that Glass can offer me with the right apps - literally a heads-up display for the glider, that follows my POV.

Sure wish they'd tame the retail price, though. It's a bit steep for a "nice to have" purchase, which is what this ultimately will be, at least for me.

Sure wish they'd tame the retail price, though. It's a bit steep for a "nice to have" purchase, which is what this ultimately will be, at least for me.

$1,500 seems like a very good price to me, for a first generation device like this. That's less than double the price of a current high end smart phone... but this is completely new tech, so you still have the early adopters "fee". I'd imagine in 5 or so years, the pricing will look much closer to smart phones (high ends being ~800 +-200, with low end being ~200 +-100).

Of course, that assumes the entire concept isn't DoA, but I doubt it will be. The question is whether this Google Glass is this market's iPhone (is the impetus for mass consumer adoption), or Palm's Pilot 1000 (an early product in an industry that is no where near hitting mainstream).

I still don't understand why Google Glass is stand-alone. Why don't they make it smaller and leverage an Android phone until a stand-alone version can be made smaller and less obtrusive? I definitely don't see myself being an early adopter. They are fugly.

They should push chip companies to make elongated chips so it can be made even smaller.

That is a minor change to the package. The actual chip is a very small device inside a carrier that provides easily handled connectors to outside circuits. The early "chips" were centipedes with a row of legs on either side. With later designs having hundreds of connections the square carrier with pins covering one flat face was the solution to the problem of putting all those "legs" on a single package. RAM sticks demonstrate that the older form of 2 rows of connectors on either side is still feasible.

Looking at that picture, it's pretty clear that within a few years Google will be able to offer Glass that doesn't look much different than regular glasses frames. Maybe slightly thicker, maybe a visible discontinuity in the lens area where the display is.

And then what? A world where possibly millions of people are web-enabled video recorders, and you can't tell who they are. A world where you have to assume that you're being recorded, all the time, and that the information is going to Google's searchable data bases. A little facial recognition, a little geo-tagging, and presto: your every move is available for perusal by anyone with a search engine. Makes the era of Facebook misjudgments look positively quaint, doesn't it?

Got a little drunk at that party and launched into an impolitic monologue? Potential employers can gauge just how offensive you are. Lover's quarrel on the street? Look forward to the remix. Just having a bad hair day? Everybody's paparazzi now.

And please, no one start telling me that it's "no different than now" what with urban security cams and opportunistic cell phone wielders. Ubiquitous, mobile, human attention focused, web-enabled cameras changes the world, in my judgement not for the better. But the droids at Google don't care, because as long as they are standing athwart the ad stream it's all good. And you know Google's take on embarrassing misbehavior: if you don't want the shame, never do anything shameful. Except now it's not just online anymore, it's always, all the time. What could go wrong?

I do hold out the hope that there are limits to the tolerance of even our tech-drunk times, that some vestigial sense of privacy will limit Glass to speciality applications, such as the poster above who is looking forward to a heads up aeronautical display. I'm just not holding out much hope.

A little facial recognition, a little geo-tagging, and presto: your every move is available for perusal by anyone with a search engine. Makes the era of Facebook misjudgments look positively quaint, doesn't it?

Funny thing, the same thing that would let people search and find you would also let you block things from being seen about you. It would require Google to put things into place within their system that allows you to see what's being recorded of you and to set permissions for the visibility of it, but that would be a minor extension of their current (good) privacy settings control panel.

I do hold out the hope that there are limits to the tolerance of even our tech-drunk times, that some vestigial sense of privacy will limit Glass to speciality applications, such as the poster above who is looking forward to a heads up aeronautical display. I'm just not holding out much hope.

If you don't want the public knowing you did something, don't do it in public.

I do believe that the idea of companies requiring social network logins, etc is asinine. Their concern with private matters should be zero as long as they remain private.

However, if you stand up in the middle of a bar and launch into a soliloquy about how all chemical companies are evil, you should consider that before applying to Dow.

The device seems so small anyway, a good designer could probably make it all but disappear into frames in future revisions. I wonder if we'll see Google Glass Powered Vera Wang glasses in a year or two..

I do hold out the hope that there are limits to the tolerance of even our tech-drunk times, that some vestigial sense of privacy will limit Glass to speciality applications, such as the poster above who is looking forward to a heads up aeronautical display. I'm just not holding out much hope.

If you don't want the public knowing you did something, don't do it in public.

I do believe that the idea of companies requiring social network logins, etc is asinine. Their concern with private matters should be zero as long as they remain private.

However, if you stand up in the middle of a bar and launch into a soliloquy about how all chemical companies are evil, you should consider that before applying to Dow.

As a practical matter, you should just assume that everything you do in public is recorded anyway. Cameras are everywhere, and not just the old CCTV variety. If anything, Glass does you a favor by reminding you just how not-private your public activities are.

This concept seems like it would be better as a phone accessory rather than a stand alone device. It could be the camera and earpiece for the phone. Then, it would not need storage and would only need enough power to transmit to your nearby phone. So, it would have: Camera, Earpiece, Microphone, Battery, Local Communications, and CPU/Hardware to connect them. Your cell phone could have the app logic and long range communication. Maybe it would be small and light enough to have one on each ear so it could have stereo sound and stereo video.

I couldn't agree with you more addabox. Even should you choose not to wear the technology, your every action and conversation is recorded by the masses around you. Facial recognition, voice recognition, RFID information from your cards...who knows what else.

At some point is marketing too effective? I consider myself cynical and a tough nut to crack from an advertising standpoint. There are a lot of other people more susceptible to marketing - young people, people with lower IQ, people battling depression and sub consciously looking to solve their problems. At what point does marketing get too effective? A large part of our current economic problems are consumers over extending themselves and carrying huge debt loads. They can get by now, but in 5 years when interest rates go up to 8 or 10% they will have enslaved themselves.

From a monopolistic concern standpoint, only companies that have paid their monthly pound of flesh to the oracle will show up as options as you walk down the street. It equivalent to not being able to have a storefront with out first paying off someone.

It's a brave new world - I just wish everyone wasn't so complacent about it.

Looking at that picture, it's pretty clear that within a few years Google will be able to offer Glass that doesn't look much different than regular glasses frames. Maybe slightly thicker, maybe a visible discontinuity in the lens area where the display is.

And then what? A world where possibly millions of people are web-enabled video recorders, and you can't tell who they are. A world where you have to assume that you're being recorded, all the time, and that the information is going to Google's searchable data bases. A little facial recognition, a little geo-tagging, and presto: your every move is available for perusal by anyone with a search engine. Makes the era of Facebook misjudgments look positively quaint, doesn't it?

Got a little drunk at that party and launched into an impolitic monologue? Potential employers can gauge just how offensive you are. Lover's quarrel on the street? Look forward to the remix. Just having a bad hair day? Everybody's paparazzi now.

And please, no one start telling me that it's "no different than now" what with urban security cams and opportunistic cell phone wielders. Ubiquitous, mobile, human attention focused, web-enabled cameras changes the world, in my judgement not for the better. But the droids at Google don't care, because as long as they are standing athwart the ad stream it's all good. And you know Google's take on embarrassing misbehavior: if you don't want the shame, never do anything shameful. Except now it's not just online anymore, it's always, all the time. What could go wrong?

I do hold out the hope that there are limits to the tolerance of even our tech-drunk times, that some vestigial sense of privacy will limit Glass to speciality applications, such as the poster above who is looking forward to a heads up aeronautical display. I'm just not holding out much hope.

I don't share all of your concerns, but even if some of them don't bother me, personally, I think they're valid and reasonable for people to have a care about.

I think we could kill a lot of these issues with a single, very simple fix: require that camera-enabled devices such as this have a red LED that faces in the direction the lens is pointing, visible from anywhere in the lens FOV.

This kills two issues at once: anyone being filmed has the *opportunity* to note that it's being done, and it helps discourage hackers from surreptitiously "looking through" your camera without it being noticeable. The user already gets a "recording" icon in the display, I'm sure, but a little LED hard-wired to the camera power feed would go a long way towards alleviating most of these privacy concerns.

It won't be a perfect solution, but it's a good "80%" step in the right direction.

I'm loathe to think Glass is going to be a meaningful product. I'm of the opinion that flexible, ultra thin phones that can be worn like watches and slipped off to send texts or whatever are the next big thing. Apple is on the right track here, even thought it might take several versions to get it right.

Imagine one of those 'slap on' bracelets which is actually a phone and you have the idea. I think people are tired of carrying and looking after traditional cell phones.

And a reality check for people who have never had to wear glasses: Glasses are frigging irritating.

I would be a little nervous about having it on while going to the bathroom and accidentally recording it and sending out the video.

And I personally would be a little nervous about walking around anywhere with a network connected device showing the world whatever I am doing.Call me a Dinosaur who will go extinct but I won't even care.I like my Privacy that is to say my private off the Internet Life.

As a pilot I would LOVE if these would be adopted and adapted for our use. Sadly the industry has gone Apple.

You know how our community is: Slowest tech adoption anywhere. It took us this long just to trust and embrace the iPad - and I know a lot of pilots who still think using personal electronics for flight purposes is tantamount to a deathwish.

We'll embrace Android eventually, and our community will eventually be multi-platform just like everyone else. It just takes us a few years longer. I'm already seeing it begin to happen in soaring, so the rest of the pilot population can't be far behind.

Looking at that picture, it's pretty clear that within a few years Google will be able to offer Glass that doesn't look much different than regular glasses frames. Maybe slightly thicker, maybe a visible discontinuity in the lens area where the display is.

And then what? A world where possibly millions of people are web-enabled video recorders, and you can't tell who they are. A world where you have to assume that you're being recorded, all the time, and that the information is going to Google's searchable data bases. A little facial recognition, a little geo-tagging, and presto: your every move is available for perusal by anyone with a search engine. Makes the era of Facebook misjudgments look positively quaint, doesn't it?

Got a little drunk at that party and launched into an impolitic monologue? Potential employers can gauge just how offensive you are. Lover's quarrel on the street? Look forward to the remix. Just having a bad hair day? Everybody's paparazzi now.

And please, no one start telling me that it's "no different than now" what with urban security cams and opportunistic cell phone wielders. Ubiquitous, mobile, human attention focused, web-enabled cameras changes the world, in my judgement not for the better. But the droids at Google don't care, because as long as they are standing athwart the ad stream it's all good. And you know Google's take on embarrassing misbehavior: if you don't want the shame, never do anything shameful. Except now it's not just online anymore, it's always, all the time. What could go wrong?

I do hold out the hope that there are limits to the tolerance of even our tech-drunk times, that some vestigial sense of privacy will limit Glass to speciality applications, such as the poster above who is looking forward to a heads up aeronautical display. I'm just not holding out much hope.

I don't share all of your concerns, but even if some of them don't bother me, personally, I think they're valid and reasonable for people to have a care about.

I think we could kill a lot of these issues with a single, very simple fix: require that camera-enabled devices such as this have a red LED that faces in the direction the lens is pointing, visible from anywhere in the lens FOV.

This kills two issues at once: anyone being filmed has the *opportunity* to note that it's being done, and it helps discourage hackers from surreptitiously "looking through" your camera without it being noticeable. The user already gets a "recording" icon in the display, I'm sure, but a little LED hard-wired to the camera power feed would go a long way towards alleviating most of these privacy concerns.

It won't be a perfect solution, but it's a good "80%" step in the right direction.

I think it should be illegal to film someone in a private space (i.e. at their place of residence). But it should be legal everywhere else (work, the mall, the street, etc.). And I don't think that people should know that others are recording them. When everyone, including the police, know they are being watched, they'll behave very well. And if they don't like laws regarding public behaviour, they'll try to change them or they'll do so out-of-sight (which is better).

Now is the time to create a mask startup, because I am going to be wearing one in public once these go mainstream. I dont even like my picture taken by people I know, much less worry about the average joe having footage of me. I assume I am being watched/recorded in public, granted. But a lot of these are security devices, and few and far between instead of every person you walk by possibly recording. In a busy city you could end up on how many hundreds or thousands of recordings in the coarse of a day? I am just not crazy about all of this and can see it causing issues the first time someone refuses to stop recording me.

I'm loathe to think Glass is going to be a meaningful product. I'm of the opinion that flexible, ultra thin phones that can be worn like watches and slipped off to send texts or whatever are the next big thing. Apple is on the right track here, even thought it might take several versions to get it right.

Imagine one of those 'slap on' bracelets which is actually a phone and you have the idea. I think people are tired of carrying and looking after traditional cell phones.

And a reality check for people who have never had to wear glasses: Glasses are frigging irritating.

I think it's a lot easier to wear something on your wrist than carry it in a pocket, worry about sitting on it, fumble with getting it out of a purse, etc. There are just usability advantages to having it on the wrist. They will be so thin and flexible soon that there won't be a reason to not have them on your wrist.

I'm loathe to think Glass is going to be a meaningful product. I'm of the opinion that flexible, ultra thin phones that can be worn like watches and slipped off to send texts or whatever are the next big thing. Apple is on the right track here, even thought it might take several versions to get it right.

Imagine one of those 'slap on' bracelets which is actually a phone and you have the idea. I think people are tired of carrying and looking after traditional cell phones.

And a reality check for people who have never had to wear glasses: Glasses are frigging irritating.

There are many advantages to having a computer on your glasses however. Say you are doing something that requires both your hands. You don't have to interrupt your work to bring your wrist into view if your computer is on a heads-up-display on your glasses. I think Google's approach is more futuristic and sci-fi. Google Glass can see what you are seeing and give you additional information (like the Terminator's HUD) about your environment. It's like having a computer in your mind's eye.